Pride, prestige, profile - the great Ballon d'Or campaign

An emotional Ousmane Dembele had barely settled back into his chair at Paris' historic Theatre du Chatelet last September, gold-dipped orb in hand, when campaigns for this year's men's Ballon d'Or prize began to whirr into action.

Entourages roused their candidates, media revelled in the hype. Who deserved the award in 2026? A World Cup year, no less, in which the narrative occasionally became not just which players could lead their country to glory, but how doing so would help them secure football's biggest individual accolade.

"The Ballon d'Or has been discussed every single day," said European football expert Guillem Balague on BBC Sport's Euro Leagues podcast.

"Quite clearly it follows the pattern of society, where it puts a lot of emphasis on the individual - it's harder to understand why a collective works, it becomes very easy to understand why one dribbles or doesn't dribble."

Clamour for the spotlight only increased as the red-carpet ceremony neared.

"You can't underestimate the PR machine that some clubs and some players are going to use," added French football journalist Julien Laurens.

Managers and sporting directors talked up their charges, and questioned why others on their squad did not make the 30-man shortlist.

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